Violence, vengeance, fire-breathing dragons, ice zombies, and lots and lots of death. Season five of Game of Thrones really doubled down on the more shocking elements of the show, putting an exclamation point on its thesis statement that this is a cruel, unjust world. The season was rife with scenes of abuse and terror, and the finale alone featured enough deaths (both certain and presumed) to fill an entire season. It turned off many viewers, including Senator Claire McCaskill, who publicly renounced the show after one rape scene too many.

But violence in a TV show, in and of itself, is not a bad thing if it serves the plot. The question this season was whether the violence was justified or gratuitous.

In reaching my own conclusion, I’m going to first examine several aspects of the season as a whole to see what worked and what didn’t. I’ll be judging the season on its plot, characters, and cinematography. From this assessment, I’ll determine whether the violence was a help or a hindrance towards the success of the season.

Spoilers follow from the TV show, but not the books.

Plot (5/10)

In general, the plot was very uneven. For long stretches of time, especially in the early episodes, almost nothing of consequence would happen. Then, suddenly, the pace picked up in the last few episodes. By the time the finale hit, so many game-changing events happened in a row that they lost much of their impact. I understand that the source material is even worse, but I think the directors could have done a better job of evening it out.

That said, some of the arcs worked very well. In past seasons, the events at the Wall had put me to sleep, but now I was fully onboard. The arrival of the White Walker army gave that storyline the sense of urgency it needed. Jon Snow’s election as Lord Commander was a little implausible, but the chain of events leading up to his death I found to be logical, even though I was caught by surprise. One caveat, though, is that if he truly remains dead, and does not come back to life as many predict, then his heroic arc didn’t have much of a point. Unless, that is, the point was for him to die as a martyr for his righteous cause. However, many avid watchers and book readers sound pretty confident that Jon is coming back, somehow, despite Kit Harrington’s claims to the contrary.

Other storylines I mostly enjoyed were Tyrion’s trip to Meeren, and the political power plays going on at King’s Landing. It was fascinating to see Tyrion and Cersei follow opposite trajectories. Tyrion began the season in a crate on a ship, and he finished the season as the de facto ruler of Meereen. Tyrion is at his best when pulling strings and make deals behind the scenes, so I am intrigued to see where this goes next season. Cersei, on the other hand, went from Queen to prisoner, forced to suffer a humiliating, public punishment. That final shot of her in the arms of the reanimated Mountain makes me think that the pendulum will shift again next season, when she begins to take her revenge on all her enemies.

I actually thought Daenerys’s arc in Meereen was well-handled, even though some reviewers found it to be tedious. Previously, I had been frustrated by Dany’s sidequests, eager for her to sail to Westeros and unleash her dragons already. But her rule of Meereen served an important purpose in teaching her how to make difficult decisions, and it was useful to see her agonize over re-opening the slave pits. I especially enjoyed the argument between Tyrion and Hizdahr and wish there had been more discussions of political philosophy as a backdrop to Dany’s decision-making. Finally, dropping Dany in the middle of a Dothraki horde at the end of the season is a fascinating development, because Dany has rarely, if ever, been off on her own without her advisers, forced to rely purely on her wits.

I thought that the plotlines in Dorne and Winterfell were hastily constructed and poorly executed. Dorne looks like a stunning location, but we see very little of it and the people who live there. Half of the season was spent watching Bronn and Jamie riding to save Myrcella while the Sand Snakes plotted, only to have them all suddenly, coincidentally, arrived at the exact same time and all get captured. Mycella’s poisoning at the very end of the season is a shocking development, but it also didn’t make sense. Why would Ellaria and the Sand Snakes be standing at the dock saying goodbye to their enemies? Why would Jamie let Ellaria kiss Myrcella, without suspecting that she might try to poison her? After Myrcella is poisoned, what’s stopping Jamie and Bronn from turning the ship around and coming back to kill Ellaria?

As for Winterfell, plenty has been written elsewhere about Sansa’s terrible rape scene. In terms of plot development, I think it could have worked, if they had not chosen to portray it the way they did. But the larger issue is that Sansa seemed to regress significantly compared to the end of last season, when it looked like she had finally learned how to play the “game of thrones”. Now she is back to being a victim, dependent on Theon to save her. And depending on how she fares after that jump off the castle wall, she might be crawling around with two broken legs in season six.

A plotline that fell in the middle for me was Arya. It was a cool concept to see her begin her assassin training, but the pacing was incredibly slow until the very end. It was obvious from the start that the mission of the faceless men differed from Arya’s, but it is not clear if the show is pushing her towards them or towards her own path. Will she forsake her kill list to become a faceless man, or will she acquire the skills she needs and then leave to attain her revenge? Arya’s dispatch of Meryn Trant, and her punishment by blinding, makes me think that she will have to stick around the House of Black and White for at least a little while longer.

A major theme of the season was the futility of revenge. The desire for vengeance is powerful, but ultimately unsatisfying once it’s achieved. We have been cheering on Arya as she recited her kill list, but when she finally killed one of her marks in cold blood, it felt more like sadism than justice. Meanwhile, Brienne fulfilled one of her oaths by tracking down Renly’s killer, Stannis, and getting a confession out of him. After Stannis told her, “Go on, do your duty”, Brienne raised her sword, but there’s a hesitation, because there is little satisfaction in enacting retribution on a broken man. Similarly, Cercei’s suffering this season should have felt like just desserts for a woman who has done so much evil, but we took no pleasure in her pain when it came to pass. In these cases and others, violence was used not to titillate, but to highlight the pointlessness of a continuing cycle of war and punishment that has been ongoing in Game of Thrones since the beginning.

In Westeros, it seems that bad things always happen to good people. Indeed, many of our favorite characters hit rock bottom this season. But some of the villains did too, and when you really think about it, some of the heroes are not in such bad shape. The question that comes to mind, though, is why anyone would be a good person when the consequences of one’s actions, whether good or bad, are kind of random. Here’s a well-written article that addressed that very question perfectly: http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/game-of-thrones-no-good-deed-go-unpunished.html

Characters (8/10)

The acting overall was superb this season, as we started to gain deeper insights into some of the characters which we had not previously had. The writing at times was weak, but the actors delivered the lines with plenty of conviction to sell the material. Even in silence, I thought that many of the characters expressed wide ranges of emotions with well-executed facial expressions for the given situation.

In particular, I was most impressed by Cersei, played by Lena Headey, who experienced the full gamut of emotions throughout her arc this season. At the beginning, she was still the cartoonish villain, scheming wickedly and heaping condescension on all those around her. After being locked up by the Faith Militant, she became indignant, then enraged, and finally broken, as she suffered one humiliation after another. Cercei was completely stripped, literally and figuratively, and the audience couldn’t help but sympathize with a woman they had previously hated so much. That long, agonizing “walk of shame” to the Red Keep was so difficult to watch because Lena Heady showed so convincingly the level of physical and psychological pain that her character was undergoing at the hands of the sadistic septons and the crowd. One could argue that this scene was just gratuitous violence, but I think it served the narrative purpose of humanizing Cercei’s struggle for legitimacy and power in a man’s world.

I also thought that there was tremendous character development for Jon Snow, Theon, Daenerys, and Jorah this season. Jon Snow wrestling with his new role as Lord Commander, and Daenerys struggling with quelling an insurgency in Meereen, allowed for significant growth in both of their leadership skills. However, I will note that Jon could be more compelling still if we saw more of his internal struggles. His heroism and righteousness often feel out-of-place in a show filled with morally ambiguous characters.

Theon spent most of the season in a tortured stupor, which was frustrating for the plot, but he conveyed his inner turmoil well. Jorah may seem like an unlikely choice, due to his generally wooden nature, but I think this is by design due to the kind of man he is. I thought he had some very strong scenes on the road to Meereen, such as his subtle sadness at learning of his father’s death before having the chance to repair their relationship. For so many characters, we saw a different side this season, and it is credit to the show that it knows how to develop fully three-dimensional characters from initially minor roles.

The low point, again, was everything that happened in Dorne. Prince Doran seemed completely disinterested in everything going on around him. The Sand Snakes were silly caricatures with odd accents. Myrcella was a one-dimensional princess, and it was somewhat disconcerting that she would be not just tolerant but actually glad that her uncle was really her father.

Cinematography (9/10)

The cinematography was probably the strongest element of the show in a season of uneven pacing and character development. With stunning set pieces, CGI creatures that are fantastical yet lifelike, and dramatic scores that perfectly evoke the mood of each scene, it is easy to forget that this is a television show, not a movie.

In particular, I was impressed by the long Hardhome battle scene in episode 8. Unlike most blockbuster action movies these days, which are filled with quick cuts, monotonous clashes of weapons, and incongruous explosions, the Hardhome scenes was filmed deftly and fluidly, with choreography that could easily be followed. With shots like a horde of White Walkers clambering over the side of a cliff, only to rise again and charge toward their prey, this scene captured their ferocious tenacity and proved beyond a doubt who the true threat is in Westeros. The closing shots were especially haunting, after the White Walkers had raised the slain wildlings to join their ranks. As the gravity of the situation sank in, the music turned down almost to silence, and Jon Snow stared at the Night’s King while the boats retreated.

One other powerful scene to highlight, again, is Cercei’s long walk, which I discussed above. It is interesting how massive the scale of the scene was, even though the central character was just one person.

But the season was not just a collection of big, shocking moments. In fact, the majority of the time was spent in quieter scenes of dialogue, or traveling on roads to new destinations, or lingering on a character’s face to reveal his or her inner turmoil. Violence is the exception, not the rule, when you really get down to it, and even in violent scenes (such as Sansa’s rape or Myranda’s death), the directors avoided too much graphic content. The composition of the scenes indicates that Game of Thrones is a drama with occasional violence, as it serves the story, rather than a violent show with occasional drama to justify the violence.

Conclusion

The strongest parts of the season were the acting, cinematography, and certain of its plotlines. Overall, I would rate the season to be weaker than the previous ones, though it is still better than virtually every other drama on TV, and I am still excited to see where season six takes us.

But what about the question that started this discussion? Has the violence become gratuitous?

Many would argue that the violence has been gratuitous on Game of Thrones since Season 1, Episode 1. I suppose it depends on your individual comfort level. But violence is part of GoT’s DNA, and there is no way around that. To be a fan of the show, one has to have a certain level of tolerance for violence.

I believe that the show has, so far, maintained a good balance and avoided an excess of gore. The violence employed has served a purpose, although it could, in some instances, be toned down or filmed more tactfully. Game of Thrones fans are not sociopaths, and they don’t tune in to delight in blood and guts flying across the screen. They enjoy the show because it offers a window to another world, as well as a window to our own past. This is a world of chivalry and moralistic crusades, but also cruelty and violence, especially directed towards women and the powerless. That is one of the main points of the narrative, and to lose that element would be to lose some of the power and significance of George R.R. Martin’s world.

I just finished reading “Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction” by Jeff Vandermeer, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Its 300 pages are filled with words and illustrations containing invaluable writing advice, as well as exercises, planning guides, and contributions from famous authors. The book’s target audience is writers of genres like fantasy and science fiction, and it is clear that Vandermeer’s personal interests skew more towards the weird. However, I think the lessons contained within are useful for every kind of fiction, because “Wonderbook” encourages the writer to think outside the box and develop full and meaningful characters and settings, whether those characters and settings are down to earth or completely off the wall.

From the front cover, I was immediately hooked by Vandermeer’s style. The island city built on the back of a whale seems to say that nothing is quite as it seems in the fantasy world, and that sense of mystery and wonder is what a writer needs to harness in order to capture the reader. From the illustrations and examples that Vandermeer employs, he seems to delight in the truly odd, often explaining a writing convention only to turn it on its head. His first chapter, about inspiration fueling creativity, explains how the disparate identities and memories of the writer can combine in the writer’s mind to create the jolt of energy that gives rise to a creative idea. The examples he offers confirm that stories can come from the most random and unexpected sources.

“Cognitive Transformation” by Ben Tolman, from page 26 of “Wonderbook” by Jeff Vandermeer.

Vandermeer goes on to describe the process for outlining a story, using the analogy of a living, breathing creature. The story-creature must be properly assembled (the muscles, bones, and organs need to be functioning together), much like a story is built on top of a plot which has an internal logic and consistency. If the author nurtures and feeds the story-creature, it can become a healthy adult creature. However, as Vandermeer, shows in the diagram below, this is far from the final step in the lifecycle of a story:

From page 70-71 of “Wonderbook”

“Wonderbook” also extensively delves into character development, plotting, worldbuilding (and mapping!), and revision. I especially enjoyed one section where Vandermeer produces a few different beginnings for one of his published novels, “Finch”, and explains why he decided to start the novel where he did. This is very helpful, because the decision of which exact moment to use at the opening of a novel affects the level of tension that is infused in the first scene, which in turn sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Vandermeer also spends time talking about proper endings, and even middles, which is another topic that doesn’t usually receive much attention. Here is one map from the book which depicts the perils that await in muddling through the middle:

Minecraft is an open-world computer game that lets users build their own environments completely out of pixellated 3-D bricks. There are multiple ways of playing, but the most intriguing part of the game, to me, is that fact that you can create an entire world and share it with other players. I’ve never played Minecraft myself, but from the looks of it, the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination. You can spend a lifetime browsing through Minecraft user-generated maps online and never run out of impressive creations.

Here are a few of the most striking Minecraft creations I found, depicting some of the most popular fantasy worlds from books, videogames, and film. Enjoy!

We have previously looked at maps of George R.R. Martin’s world of Westeros from the Song of Ice and Fire series here and here. But we haven’t looked closely at the cities of Westeros and Essos… until now. In honor of the season 5 premiere of the Game of Thrones series on HBO, I compiled maps and illustrations for some of the most important locations from the series, including King’s Landing, Winterfell, and Braavos. Some of these are official creations, earning the approval of Martin himself, while others were made by die-hard fans.

This map of King’s Landing is from “The Lands of Ice and Fire”, which is a collection of maps for locations from the Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin paired up with illustrator Jonathan Roberts to create the maps and provide exhaustive, in-depth commentary about each location.

Also from the continent of Essos, Meereen is the current home of Daenarys Targarean, who is consolidating her power and building her army before making her much-delayed invasion of Westeros for the Iron Throne. Meereen’s distinctive feature is its giant pyramid, topped with a statue of a harpy. This illustration of Meereen comes from the title credits of the HBO series. There are, unfortunately, not many better quality views of Meereen which are available.

Winterfell, although the seat of power for the North of Westeros, is much less a city and more like a castle with the surrounding environs. One intrepid fan set out to recreate the city, based on its depiction in the opening credits of the TV show, using a CAD tool and a 3-D printer. The shot of Winterfell in the opening credits is quick, and the only other map he had to go on was this floor plan from the Wiki of Ice and Fire. Talk about dedication!

Finally, I found a map of Dragonstone, seat of power for Stannis Baratheon, made entirely in Minecraft. The several giant stone dragons are quite imposing, even if they are made up of tiny digital blocks.

At first, Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy appears to follow very closely in the footsteps of the Hunger Games trilogy. Both are young-adult dystopian trilogies with strong female teenage protagonists. In both sets of novels, order is maintained through a rigid social structure, by which the majority of people are denied freedom of choice in how they wish to live their lives, and the protagonist has to fight against this structure. Although I have not read the Divergent series, I feel that I can pretty much guess how the story will play out, based on having read the Hunger Games series.

However, as I started to read more about Divergent, I became more curious about the world created by Roth, at least from a cartographical perspective. What is most interesting to me is that the story is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago, many years in the future. This is in contrast to the world of Panem, of The Hunger Games, which is ambiguously located in former United States, without any explicit points of reference to current-day states or cities. Other novels, such as The Maze Runner or The Giver, provide even fewer clues about their locations. Divergent is refreshing, at least, in providing a familiar setting for its characters.

Its version of Chicago, however, has changed considerably from the city we know today. The highways are crumbling, bridges have collapsed, and many of the once-mighty skyscrapers have been reduced to skeletons. Most shockingly of all, Lake Michigan has dried up and been replaced by a marsh. Below is a shot from the film version of Divergent, which came out last year, showing the Chicago skyline from the view of the marshy Lake Michigan.

In Divergent, Chicago has been cut off from the rest of the world by a giant fence, purportedly for the safety of its residents. Each person is assigned to one of five factions (abnegation, amity, candor, dauntless, and erudite), which control parts of the city, and one’s faction is chosen based on the results of an aptitude test. It is basically like a personality test, classifying people as selfless, peaceful, honest, brave, or intellectual. Want to opt out of this process altogether? Then you will become factionless, and will be living homeless on the streets of Chicago. The main character of the series, Tris, undergoes this exam at the beginning of the series, and finds that she is one of the rare “divergent” people who do not fit neatly into one of the five groups. I do not know much more about the story, but from the looks of the movie trailers, action, adventure, and perhaps some romance, ensue.

One ambitious fan of the series, @Jillian, discovered that there were no adequate maps of the Chicago of Divergent, so she went ahead and created her own on Google Maps. It is really quite impressive to see, as she has used her knowledge of the books to mark areas of Chicago which are the likely zones for the five factions. In addition, she marks points on the map where major events in the novels occur, such as Gateway Park, the site of the city’s giant ferris wheel. If you are wondering about her methodology for choosing her locations, she even provides citations and quotes from the books backing up her choices. Talk about thorough!

Be warned, if you have not completed the whole series, that there are spoilers in the map below:

Finally, the movie adaptation of Insurgent, the second novel in the series, opens in theaters this Friday, March 20. I’m sure that the legions of Divergent fans will make it another box office hit. But those who are curious about urban geography may want to check it out as well, if for no other reason than to see post-apocalyptic Chicago brought to life on the big screen.

January 27th is British author Lewis Carroll’s birthday. Born in 1832, Carroll is best known for writing “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, and its sequel, “Through the Looking Glass”. His well-regarded writing style is certainly unique, employing clever word play and fantastical descriptions.

What most draws me to him, though, is his usage of nonsense language. Carroll had the remarkable ability to make up a word seemingly out of thin air, and yet have that word’s meaning be almost instinctively known by the reader. His great talent for language shows that the meaning we ascribe to a word depends much on the sound of that word and the context in which that word appears.

Even more remarkably, some of the meaningless words that Carroll created would actually become real words. The best example is “chortle”, which is a combination of “chuckle” and “snort”. I have chortled from time to time, and I’m sure most of you have as well. Carroll realized that chortling was a common, though undefined, human activity, and all he had to do was put a name on it.

My favorite work of his, a wonderful example of literary nonsense, is a short poem entitled, “Jabberwock”:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

It’s one of my favorite poems to recite, even if (perhaps because) half the words are nonsense. In seven short stanzas, the poem tells a complete story. First we are introduced to the Jabberwock, a dangerous monster with jaws and claws. The beast is quickly slain by our nameless hero with a “vorpal blade”. Finally, there is celebration (“Callooh! Callay!”).

The poem’s whimsical, lyrical cadence really make the story sing. Sure it is the story of a man slicing off the head of a mythical monster, but it is also so much more. Using onomatopoeia, colorful words, and old English phrases, Carroll really paints a picture of another, much more fantastical world. From the very first lines, one is transported to a world of strange creatures (such as “toves”) doing strange things (“gyre and gimble”), and confusion only spurs the reader to delve deeper into the strangeness.

Let’s look at just a few of these strange words. According to the Humpty Dumpty character who comments on the poem after it is read within “Through the Looking Glass”, “brillig” means 4:00pm, the time of day when you start broiling things for dinner. A “slithy tove” I might guess to be a “slimy toad” from the sound of it. Humpty Dumpty explains that “slithy” means both lithe and slimy, and “tove” is actually something like a badger. And then there are words for which there are no definitive explanations. For example, Carroll himself claims not to know the source of “tulgey” or “vorpal”, but thoughtful fans have proposed their own definitions. The wikipedia article, which is several times longer than the poem itself, contains explanations and possible meanings for every one of Lewis’s creations.

And what of the Jabberwock itself? What exactly is this monster, and where did it come from? The only description we have is that the Jabberwock has claws that catch, jaws that bite, and eyes of flame. John Tanniel illustrated the creature for the book, and his drawing is reproduced below. It appears much like an oversize, long-necked pterodactyl. As for the name itself, Carroll has stated that “The Anglo-Saxon word ‘wocer’ or ‘wocor’ signifies ‘offspring’ or ‘fruit’. Taking ‘jabber’ in its ordinary acceptation of ‘excited and voluble discussion’, this would give the meaning of ‘the result of much excited and voluble discussion’…” Therefore, a more modern name for the Jabberwock might be something like Notorious.

The Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel (via Wikipedia)

You can still find many references to the poem in media today. I always chortle when I see a vorpal blade show up in a videogame, such as World of Warcraft. Not all of Carroll’s created words have staying power, but it is never too late for anyone to start using them. The beauty of language is that it is always evolving, and any word which was once new and lacking meaning can someday become a part of the lexicon.

If you’re anything like me, the start of season 5 of Game of Thrones on April 12 simply cannot come soon enough. However, I have a temporary solution. If you too can’t wait to see our heroes/villains battle across Westeros once again, then please join in me in nerding out over some maps.

In a previous post, we looked at a map of Westeros that showed the political boundaries of the various kingdoms and dynasties that controlled the continent. However, if you keep digging online, you’ll uncover some rather unique creations by the many loyal fans of the books and tv show. Here I have assembled the five oddest maps I found. Some of them depict Westeros in a completely different artistic style, and others bring the locations (and atmosphere) of Westeros to the real world. Let’s take a look!

Westeros is a dark, violent place where no character is ever truly safe from peril. But what if it wasn’t? This map illustrates Westeros in the style of Mary Blair, who drew many of the classic cartoon Disney movies, such as Peter Pan. Now there’s a world I’d like to live in. Even the moon door at The Eyrie looks inviting!

If you came of age in the 1990s, the above map is sure to fill you with nostalgia for the classic videogame Super Mario World. One inventive reddit user rearranged the topography of that world to resemble Westeros. He did a really great job, and I can recognize all the familiar locations (such as The Twins and Harrenhal) from the sprites he used. Now if only the White Walkers would turn around when you looked at them, like the boos from the Mario game, the Night’s Watch would be all set.

Sports and nerdiness together at last! I must confess that I do not follow sports that closely, so I don’t get half of these references, but it is funny to see the territory beyond The Wall referred to as The Land of Always Hockey.

The United States are converted into Westeros in the map above. Some of the locations make perfect sense, like Casterly Rock being New York City while Washington, DC is King’s Landing. Others seem like odd choices, but the post on College Humor has an explanation for each one. For example, Qarth is Savannah, Georgia, because it is “a wealthy port city, the inhabitants think that it’s the greatest city that ever was or will be, and yet no one outside the city cares. Filled with many rich creepy people.” (Keep in mind that this is College Humor, so everything is a little tongue in cheek.)

Finally, we find ourselves (inevitably, as always) in New Jersey. A fan of the series created this map of “West New Jerseros” after Peter Dinklage jokingly stated in an interview that the show was filmed in Jersey. It actually sort of works, although I’m not sure that the Jersey Shore is really the seat of political power like King’s Landing is.

Hope you enjoyed the maps as much as I did! And remember: Spring is coming, and with it, a new season of Game of Thrones!

‘Tis the season for posting year-end lists! 2014 was quite a year for the Petros Jordan blog, as readership remained strong, and we expanded our scope to include such areas as book reviews, television analysis, and ever more unusual forms of cartography. Here are the five most popular blog posts of the year:

With over 1300 views, this post was the most popular one published this year. For those wondering, I’ve concluded that the answer is a resounding YES. I am currently in book 3 of the series and greatly enjoying it, even after I have watched all seasons of the show.

The popularity of this post indicates the level of devotion that the groundbreaking, hilarious show Community enjoys. After its cancellation by NBC, the fans began such a persistent online campaign for renewal, that it was finally picked up for a sixth season on Yahoo Screen. New episodes will begin premiering some time in early 2015.

Any good fantasy writer has to grapple with worldbuilding and cartography. How does one make a fantasy realm that stands out among the crowd? Well, for one, you may want to avoid having the ocean on the left and the land on the right, because that’s how the majority of fantasy worlds have been structured. But why is that? Well, you have to read the post to find out!

Here’s to another productive year! Stay tuned for more maps, fantasy, writing, and who knows what else in 2015!

The third installment of the Hobbit movies, The Battle of the Five Armies, is about to be released, so there’s no better time to check out some maps of Middle Earth. Three Lord of the Rings movies and three Hobbit movies have taken place there, meaning that this is one of the most familiar fantasy realms for moviegoers in recent years. But readers of J.R.R. Tolkein’s epic novels have been gleefully jumping into Middle Earth for decades now. Tolkein is the grandfather of modern fantasy, and the map of the world he created reveals why his stories have managed to captivate the imaginations of so many dedicated fans. Middle Earth is eerie, mysterious, and magical. It is just the kind of place that fantasy fans love to step into, if only briefly.

Here is one map of Middle Earth, which was created by Pauline Baynes in 1970. Not only does it include all the locations from the novels, but illustrations of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring at the top, and malevolent forces in pursuit at the bottom.

It is a very well-made map for the setting portrayed, because it captures the unique aura of Middle Earth. There is a strong sense of danger, but also of valor, in this land which plays host to such epic battles between good and evil.

For Tolkein fans who want to get closer to the action, there are also some very cool interactive maps online. One of them, which is affiliated with Warner Brothers as part of the promotion for the upcoming film release, can be accessed at the following link: http://middle-earth.thehobbit.com/map/. This link provides not just a large, topographical map which can be explored, but it lets you choose one of the main heroes from LOTR or The Hobbit and follow his journey. At last, you can follow in the footsteps of a hobbit such as Bilbo or Frodo as they leave the Shire and cross the vast territory of Middle Earth.

At each stop in the hero’s journey, you can zoom in to the location, find out more about what happened there, and even watch film clips relevant to the location. But there’s even more! Scattered throughout Middle Earth are several “battlegrounds” which you can join. Select a character and a race (such as elf or dwarf) and you can fight against computer characters or other players. I didn’t spend much time playing around with it, but it looks like you can invite friends to build up your own armies to face off against other armies. Essentially, this is a map which doubles as a videogame.

Now, if you’re looking for an interactive map which doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but lets you view all the paths of all the heroes and the locations of major events all one screen, then I highly recommend this link: http://lotrproject.com/map/#zoom=3&lat=-1315.5&lon=1500&layers=BTTTTT. The LOTR project lets you select which paths you want to view, scan through timelines of events, and even browse through several detailed demographic charts on the inhabitants of Middle Earth. How some people are able to compile some of this exhaustive data is beyond me, but then again, I suppose my nerdiness knows some bounds.

My calendar and my cold fingers tell me it’s November, which means it’s also National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo). This month-long challenge is open to anyone, whether an experienced novelist or someone who has never, but always wanted, to write their own novel. The NaNoWriMo nonprofit organizes and facilitates the event through their website (http://nanowrimo.org/), on which you can sign up, track the progress of your novel, interact with other participants, and finally upload your completed novel at the end of the month. The site boasts that thousands and thousands of people participate every November, many of them entering December as first time novelists.

Let me first say that I think this is a really good way to get people motivated to write. Having a specific goal to meet by a definite deadline, along with an online community to provide support, is helpful for lots of people who desire to write but struggle to actually put words to paper. There are even prizes available, such as paperback copies of the participant’s novel. From there, the novelists can, and many do, go on to publish their novels.

The one requirement for a participant to complete the challenge is to create a novel of 50,000 words. According to the website, this number was chosen because it is about the length of a short novel (such as the Great Gatsby), and it’s doable for just about anyone. Translated to a page count, 50,000 words is about 175-200 pages, and I think this is a good goal for a first time writer who is still learning about pacing and plotting over the course of a long story. In contemporary fiction, and especially with genres such as fantasy, the trend lately is for page counts to go up and up, as if that were a marker of greater significance. The books in A Song of Ice and Fire, for example, are all upwards of 850 pages. But some of the best stories I have read in my life have also been on the shorter side, and they often boast the advantages of tighter plotting and an economy of characters.

So I agree with the NaNoWriMo figure of 50,000 words for a novel. However, I think it would prove challenging for the average person, with work and family responsibilities, to write this many words in a month. That’s over 1,500 per day, on average, and does not even include time spent on planning and editing. While some people, when faced with an ambitious goal and a tight deadline, will rally and succeed, I think a significant number of people will become deterred and discouraged. Worse, they might be turned off from writing completely if they cannot meet the goal of 1,500 words a day.

That’s why I’m proposing a new writing challenge for November: Write something. Every day. Even if it’s just a sentence, write something that goes towards a short story or a novel you hope to complete, and don’t feel bad about how little you wrote. The goal is not about volume, but forming a daily writing habit. Once writing becomes a habit, it gets easier to put more and more down on the paper as time goes on, but if you’re just starting out and trying to find time in a busy schedule, I think the daily aim of “Write Something” is a good start.

As for me, I am not participating in the normal NaNoWriMo challenge, because I already have a 3/4 finished novel that I would really like to buckle down and complete. I have 72,000 words written, and I expect that it needs another 10,000 to 15,000 for the story to wrap up. That’s a goal I think I can manage if I push myself to write every day in November. You’d be surprised how much you can write when your aim is just to write “something”, because once the creative juices start flowing, the words flow quicker. Sometimes I have sat down to write just a sentence, and churned out a paragraph, and other times a paragraph became a page. Write something, anything, as long as it’s fiction, and see where it leads you.

There are no prizes for my Write Something challenge, unfortunately, except for your own self-satisfaction. Now get writing!